Finding college text books cheap is something of an art form.  Of course, the first thing you should look for are used books.  While you can often save a lot of money buying only used books, this is harder than it sounds.  First of all, you’re not the only one looking for your college text books cheap, so any used books the school bookstore has will go fast.  Secondly, the giant industry that is created by college text books has developed some devious ways around the used book phenomenon.  If you’re a seasoned student, you know what I mean.  Every year it seems like theres a new edition for every textbook, and your professor always wants you to buy the newest one. 

Some professors are hip to this fact, and understand the difficulties in getting college text books cheaply.  Some of my professors even suggested alternative older books to look for if your were on a tight budget, and would make sure there were plenty of copies available to check out for free at the library.  Unfortunately, most of the professors I had weren’t like this, and many of them in fact required me to buy the most current text book that they themselves wrote. 

If you find yourself in a predicament like this, and are ‘required’ to buy some professors recently released 200 dollar text book, of which there are no used versions available in the store, don’t despair.  There are ways to get even these sorts of college text books cheap.  First of all, if there aren’t used books in the book store, try looking for used versions online.  There are a lot of sites dedicated to helping you find college text books cheaply these days, and basically act as an Ebay just for books.  You can hook up with other students trying to sell their books and usually get a good price.  I like ‘ValoreBooks.com’ but they’re all pretty much the same thing.